Compromise Kiss
by T. Z. Townshend
Summary: Sherlock Holmes gets a little more than he was expecting out of a Quidditch match with Gryffindor. Sequel oneshot to "Patronus Kiss", but can be read alone. Sherlolly fluff with a hint of Worstan.


**A/N: This is a little sequel to the ficlette "Patronus Kiss", though it can be read alone. Enjoy!**

The tension was high in the Great Hall the morning of the second Quidditch match of the season: Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. Greg Lestrade and Sherlock Holmes spent half of breakfast glaring at each other, although the Ravenclaw captain's expression was considerably more smug. His team had a new keeper whose identity had yet to be revealed and he was treating it like a secret weapon. It had the Gryffindors on edge to the point where John Watson attempted multiple times to persuade Ravenclaw girls to turn traitor through his strong flirting powers. He was still unsuccessful, much to his own house's disappointment. The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins all took sides, with the exception of Molly Hooper, would came into the Great Hall that morning with one cheek painted in stripes of blue and silver and the other in red and gold. Despite John and Greg saying that they would completely understand if she decked herself out in Ravenclaw's colors, she insisted on supporting all of her friends. She wished them good luck as they marched out of the Great Hall to prepare for the match.

"I'm going to assume that was just for the Gryffindors as they are the ones who need it." Sherlock told her with a smirk.

"Thank you, Molly," John said as he followed after him. Greg trailed behind them, grumbling about poster child Hufflepuffs and stroking Sherlock's ego. Not much later, Molly found herself in the stands, cheering as both teams filed onto the field. There was a blonde among the Ravenclaw ranks who hadn't been there the previous year. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was Mary Morstan, the girl she sat next to in Transfiguration. She could see John checking out the opposing team and saying something that looked suspiciously like 'Ooh, you're a bad man, Sherlock.'

Out on the field, Sherlock and Greg shook hands and a few moments later, all the players were in the air. James Moriarty's lilting voice boomed out across the pitch, making snarky commentary.

"Looks like Ravenclaw's Captain Holmes is playing a psychological game this year, making up the rest of his team entirely of beautiful young ladies. The new keeper, Morstan starts out strong with the first save of the match. Watson tries again, but oh my! Ravenclaw's nimble Yao effortlessly pilfers the Quaffel from him! And she scores! Gryffindor keeper Lestrade's looking mighty flustered over there. Shame on you, mate. She's only a third year _and_ you've got a girlfriend."

Up in the air, Sherlock had long since tuned Jim out and was focusing the majority of his attention on locating the snitch. He didn't even notice when the commentator started referring to the Ravenclaw team as 'The Holmes Harem' (earning Jim a prompt scolding from Professor McGonagall). Anderson sent a bludger straight for Sherlock, but he had only to tilt his head slightly to the side to have it go whistling past his left ear.

"Ooh! Cool and calm Holmes narrowly avoids a bludger from Anderson like it's nothing. You're going to have to do better than that, Gryffindor. The only person to ever successfully hit him is Slytherin's own lovely Irene Adler. Ah, and Yao scores again! Come on, Gryffindor. Don't rely on your seeker to win you the game. Speaking of which, Seb Moran seems to have spotted the snitch. Better hurry, Sherly, or it'll all be over before you can even blink."

In the stands, Molly Hooper found herself cheering Sherlock on at the top of her lungs. He was already speeding after Sebastian Moran, who had his arm stretched out to catch the tiny golden ball. Sherlock barreled into him, knocking him off course. The thrill of the chase was rising in his blood, burning like fuel to urge him onward and allow him to block out the pain of Moran ramming into him.

"Piss off, Holmes!"

"After you!" Sherlock sneered before jabbing three fingers into Sebastian's side. The Gryffindor seeker howled in pain and veered off, clutching his injury. Sherlock laughed and continued his pursuit of the snitch. To his annoyance, when he was nearly within reach of it, Sebastian was back on him. They zoomed by one of the Ravenclaw beaters and her captain shouted at her to do something about his opponent. "Don't just sit there, Wilson! Send a bludger at his head!" Tightening her grip on her bat, Jennifer Wilson sent the nearest bludger hurtling toward Moran. Though it missed his body, it hit his broom and shattered it. The crowd gasped as he went tumbling to the ground, landing in the sand beneath the Ravenclaw goal posts. Unfortunately, Sherlock had been distracted enough by fighting off the other seeker to lose sight of the snitch. His hawklike gaze caught a glint of gold after a few moments, though, and he was off again.

"Look at Holmes go! For an awkward, lanky bloke, he's pretty fast! If Gryffindor wants to win, now would be a good time for their beaters to get their acts together. Ah! There we go! Donovan sends him a bludger and scores! Right in the ribs!" Moriarty jeered. Sherlock didn't let the hit he'd taken jar his course. Instead, he calmly let it push him over. The whole crowd gasped as he dangled upside down by his ankles from the end of his broom and wrapped his spindly fingers around the golden snitch as it flew under him. "Sherlock Holmes as caught the snitch! Ravenclaw wins!" The stadium erupted with cheering and applause, the loudest students of course being those from the winning house. Molly Hooper was too busy worrying to whoop in excitement as she watched her friend hang precariously in the air. In his attempt to right himself, he slipped, leaving him hanging by one leg briefly before that leg lost its purchase as well. He plummeted to the ground, landing with an audible and sickening crunch. John, Molly, and his team rushed to him to find that he was still conscious and in a great deal of pain.

"Got the snitch..." he wheezed with a smirk. He still held the golden ball tightly in his hand.

"Yes, you did. You were brilliant, Sherlock. Unfortunately, it looks like you've broken a few things in the process." Molly told him softly, kneeling down beside him. He let out a laugh that quickly turned into a groan of agony. He let go of the snitch reached for Molly to hold her hand in a death grip.

"SOMEBODY GET MADAM POMFREY TO HURRY UP!" Sherlock all but shrieked.

"Calm down, boy. I'm here." the old woman answered. "Would you ladies be kind enough to help my get Mr. Holmes to the hospital wing? Be careful, he's got a broken leg, a few broken ribs, and quite a few bruises by the look of it." She addressed Molly and the rest of the Ravenclaw team. John seemed a little offended.

"John, why don't you go fetch Sherlock's broom. He'll be cross if he loses it." Molly suggested, and the Gryffindor perked up. He gave the girl a nod and flew off to do as she said. Gingerly, Molly, Mary, and Soo Lin lifted up Sherlock and carried him to the hospital wing. As he lay in one of the beds, still holding his friend's hand as if his life depended on it, Madam Pomfrey healed his broken bones while his teammates watched. Eventually, most of them were shooed out of the hospital wing, though Molly was allowed to remain for the simple fact that Sherlock refused to let go of her hand. John showed up not much later, still in his Quidditch robes.

"You alright there, mate?" he asked.

"Should be out of here in time for dinner."

"You sure you're alright? It sounds like you actually want to eat."

"Food will help me recover more quickly."

"Ah, I see. Also, did I mention that your new keeper is _gorgeous_?"

"I told you we'd win."

"Stuff it, you big headed-"

"Boys!" Molly interjected. "Can we not do the bickering right now? Sherlock's been hurt and we don't want to exacerbate that, now do we?" A smug look came across the Ravenclaw's face at this and he flashed Molly a smile. John pouted.

"Fine. Since I'm clearly not welcome, I'll leave you two alone. I was going to congratulate you on a game well played, Sherlock, but I've decided against it. Good afternoon." He huffed and strode dramatically out of the hospital wing.

"Oh, John, don't be like that!" Molly called after him, but he didn't come back. She turn to Sherlock and scowled. "Now look what you've done. John was trying to be a good friend and you put him off."

"Hmm, I liked it better when you were calling me brilliant."

"You were lying on the ground with your shin bone snapped in half and three ribs cracked when I said that."

"Are you saying I'm only brilliant when I'm dying?"

"You weren't dying, you were just in a lot of pain, which brings me to the question of why you're still gripping my hand like a lifeline." There was a long pause before Sherlock replied, his expression unreadable.

"Tell me I'm brilliant again."

"What? Why?!" Molly sputtered, blushing and trying to pull away, but failing. Sherlock gave her one of his arresting, smoldering looks that always made her knees feel like they were made of jello. "Sh-Sherlock! Y-You can't just expect me to feed your ego on command!" Smolder. "Sherlock!" Smolder. "That's not fair." Smolder. "Okay, fine, you're brilliant."

"That was a lot less than I was expecting."

"What do you want? Were you expecting me to get on my knees and worship you like a god? You're not exactly inspiring genuine compliments right now, you know." Molly shot back with a frown.

"Do you want you're hand back?"

"Yes."

"Well, you'll have to wait. I'm testing your patience."

"Oh, now that makes sense. Listen, I'd love to stick around and entertain you all afternoon, Sherlock, but I have things to do, so if you don't mind, I'd like to postpone the experiment." the Hufflepuff told her friend with a sigh.

"Is starting on that History of Magic paper a week early really more important than making sure I don't die of bored- hnngmmmm!" Sherlock's eyes went wide as Molly interrupted him by leaning over to press her lips to his in a very unexpected kiss. In his shock, his grip on Molly's hand loosened and she freed herself.

"There. Now you'll have something to think about _and_ I'll be free to do my homework," she said upon pulling away from him. She then ran out of the hospital wing before she could think about and regret what she'd just done. Sherlock was left sitting in his bed, wearing an expression of utter amazement. His stomach was doing something it'd never done before and he swallowed hard, but the feeling didn't go away. He looked over to see Madam Pomfrey staring at him.

"Mr. Holmes, if you don't marry that girl, I will be very disappointed in you." She commented and then handed him a glass of pumpkin juice. Sherlock found that her words didn't bother him at all and that terrified him.

**A/N: Well, I hope you found that enjoyable despite its shortness. There will be an illustration to go with this sometime in the near future. I'll put a link on my profile once I've posted the drawing on Tumblr. Thanks for reading! ~T.Z.**


End file.
